Navy hospital ship prepares for Philippines deployment — Tensions run high between the White House and military leaders

PHILIPPINES UPDATE — U.S. HOSPITAL SHIP TOLD TO GET READY: Yesterday, the Navy ordered the San Diego-based hospital ship USNS Mercy to prepare to support victims of Typhoon Haiyan.

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If ordered to deploy, the Navy said, the Mercy would get underway in the next several days and could arrive in the Philippines sometime in December.

-- TWO AMPHIBIOUS SHIPS ALSO HEADED TO THE REGION: The amphibious transports USS Germantown and USS Ashland are set to depart tomorrow from Sasebo, Japan. “After picking up Marines, equipment and relief supplies in Okinawa, the two ships will arrive at the Philippines in approximately one week,” the Navy said.

-- MORE THAN 1,000 U.S. TROOPS COULD PARTICIPATE IN THE RELIEF EFFORT, via The Associated Press’s Matthew Pennington: “Just over 300 U.S. military personnel are currently in the Philippines. The U.S. is still assessing the size of deployment that will be needed to help the relief effort, but more U.S. Marines should depart soon from Okinawa, Japan, which could bring the total number of troops to more than 1,000 by the end of the week.” http://bit.ly/1aFgnni

BATTLE OVER SEXUAL ASSAULT LEGISLATION ENTERS ITS FINAL STAGE: The backers of rival amendments to tackle the military’s sexual assault problem are making their closing arguments before the Senate votes on the defense bill, report POLITICO’s Darren Samuelsohn and Anna Palmer, who have been tracking the issue closely. http://politi.co/1a73AOv

About two dozen senators have yet to decide whether to support Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s controversial amendment that would remove the chain of command from prosecuting sexual assault and other major military crimes.

-- UCMJ EXPERT SAYS DON'T CHANGE THE BILL: Yale Law School professor Eugene Fidell isn't on board with the trial balloon Gillibrand floated yesterday, which would limit her amendment to just sexual assault and rape, rather than all major military crimes — a compromise she's eyeing if it means winning 60 votes. “I would not encourage her to accept a half measure. Her original proposal had the benefit of integrity rather than simply making a deal,” Fidell told Morning D.

-- DOD SAYS GILLIBRAND AMENDMENT WOULD COST $113 MILLION TO IMPLEMENT: The estimate comes from analysis by DoD’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation Office and covers the additional personnel needed to stand up and implement the proposed changes in policy, according to a senior defense official.

OFFICER WHO ONCE LED THE AIR FORCE’S SEXUAL ASSAULT RESPONSE TEAM IS ACQUITTED OF GROPING CHARGES, via AP’s Matthew Bakarat: “The seven-member jury deliberated about an hour after hearing closing arguments Wednesday in the misdemeanor assault case against 42-year-old Lt. Col. Jeffrey Krusinski. His arrest fueled a national furor over sexual abuse in the military and whether top brass take the issue seriously.” http://huff.to/1hGEXOb

-- The deets: DoD will complete its planned purchase of 30 Mi-17 helicopters in 2013, but it has canceled a follow-on order for 15 more of the aircraft.

-- Upon hearing the news, Andrew Exum ( @abumuqawama) tweeted, “In defense of the Pentagon, try buying two dozen Mi-17s in a non-shady way. Maybe from the Mi-17 Store at the mall.”

FOUR MARINES KILLED YESTERDAY AT CAMP PENDLETON: “The accident happened at 11 a.m. during a range maintenance operation at the San Diego County coastal base. The Marines were clearing the range of unexploded ordnance, and it was not a live firing range, a Marine official said,” according to a report from the AP. http://wapo.st/172QIb2

OBAMA VS. THE GENERALS — A FIRST LOOK AT WHAT’S INSIDE POLITICO’S NEW MAGAZINE: POLITICO Magazine, which launches today, includes a provocative look at President Barack Obama’s uneasy relationship with the military’s leaders by Rosa Brooks, who was an Obama appointee at the Pentagon from 2009 to 2011. After talking to “a dozen serving and recently retired senior military officers,” Brooks reports that “tensions between the White House and the military are running worryingly high.”

While the White House says that the president relies heavily on senior military leaders to provide candid advice, Brooks says, in her interviews, “many senior military leaders complained of feeling baffled and shut out by a White House National Security Staff that, in their view, combines an insistence on micromanaging minor issues with a near-total inability to articulate coherent strategic goals.”

Despite all of this, some of Brooks’ sources concede that this administration is more inclusive than the last few. But that’s not saying much. http://politi.co/1cqLpSF

-- WOULDN’T YOU LIKE TO BE A FLY ON THIS WALL? What an amazing coincidence — a photo from the president’s meeting yesterday with senior military leaders … photographic proof that he listens to them? http://bit.ly/1iaoeRe

-- ALSO FROM THE NEW GLOSSY — WHY THE ROLE OF A CABINET SECRETARY HAS NEVER SEEMED SMALLER:“The staffers who rule Obama’s West Wing often treat his Cabinet as a nuisance,” writes Glenn Thrush in the magazine’s cover story.

The piece includes a great anecdote from Obama’s first term, when then-Defense Secretary Robert Gates tells a White House staffer that he’ll only do the Sunday shows if Obama or someone high up in the White House makes the request: “If the president needs me, I’ll do it, but don’t be sending some little shit to ask me.”

Needless to say, per Thrush, “White House aides are nervously awaiting the publication of Gates’ memoir in January.” http://politi.co/HO2Ym7

-- THE TAKEAWAY from both pieces: The president relies on a small inner circle for advice, leaving even his senior military leaders and Cabinet secretaries with the feeling that they’re on the outside looking in.

FRELINGHUYSEN TO LEAD DEFENSE APPROPS: Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.) will succeed the late Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.) as chairman of the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. Frelinghuysen had been a senior Republican on the panel, and his ascension was expected.

CSAF: TIERED READINESS MEANS NOT BEING READY, via POLITICO’s Philip Ewing: “Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh on Wednesday faulted the notion of applying ‘tiered readiness’ to his service as broached by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, arguing the concept just wouldn’t work for the Air Force.”

-- SR-70-WHAT? Welsh is intrigued about the possibilities of hypersonic aircraft, but don’t get your hopes up too high. He told reporters yesterday that he likes the idea of an American aircraft operating at such high speeds an adversary can’t react — but he said the steep cost and risk means he’s not sure if there are any major new programs in the cards. He was asked specifically about the Mach 6-capable SR-72 demonstrator that Lockheed Martin has pitched with great fanfare, and his answer was not encouraging for the company.

“I don’t know anything about the SR-72 concept,” he said. “I haven’t talked to Lockheed about it. I don’t know anything about it. I saw an article about it. That’s all I know.”

If you want to know as much as Welsh, check out this recent story from Aviation Week’s Guy Norris: http://bit.ly/1ctQGgY

ANYONE NOTICE THAT CHINESE TROOPS ARE IN HAWAII DOING DRILLS WITH U.S. SOLDIERS? People’s Liberation Army soldiers have been conducting humanitarian assistance drills with U.S. troops in Hawaii over the last two days. The joint exercise concludes today. It’s the first time ever that Chinese troops have drilled on U.S. territory, Bloomberg News reports. http://bit.ly/19Zm2sk

SPEED READ

-- An investigation of the CBS “60 Minutes” report on Benghazi finds there are other problems with the story beyond its discredited key source. McClatchy: http://bit.ly/1a5nolj

-- The killing of the Pakistani Taliban’s leader in a U.S. drone strike has left the group in dangerous disarray. Reuters: http://reut.rs/17UWFd1

-- The Turkish government is reopening the competition for its long-range air and missile-defense system, a bid Ankara initially announced was won by a Chinese firm. Defense News: http://bit.ly/1bEydtg

NOW LIVE: POLITICO MAGAZINE — The much anticipated magazine from POLITICO is now live online, presented by Bank of America. POLITICO Magazine is the company's most ambitious expansion in years, convening the most interesting and provocative thinkers and journalists on the ideas driving American politics. Check it out: www.POLITICO.com/magazine.

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Authors:

About The Author

Kate Brannen is a defense reporter for POLITICO Pro.

Before coming to POLITICO, Brannen covered congress for Defense News, providing regular coverage of the budget debate on Capitol Hill and its implications for national security. Previously, she spent three years covering the U.S. Army — first as a reporter for InsideDefense.com, then as the land warfare correspondent for Defense News.

Brannen graduated from the University of Pennsylvania, with a bachelor's degree in history. She has received graduate degrees from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism and School of International and Public Affairs.